Abstract

Working memory (WM) has been associated with general intelligence (GI). However, evidence is contradictory, as the relationship has in some cases resulted to be very high, and in other cases very low. To explain these differences, it has been argued that WM is an articulated system and only its more attentional components are strictly related with GI. In particular, it has been argued that WM tasks can be located – according to the task characteristics and the subject's age – along a continuum, from the most passive tasks, which do not require cognitive control, to the most active tasks, which do require high cognitive control. The present study tested this hypothesis using data collected during the standardization of the Italian version of the WISC-IV. WISC-IV, includes four measures, i.e. the arithmetic test, the letter-number sequencing test, the backward and the forward digit span tests, which represent decreasing levels of cognitive control. The analysis of correlations between the four tasks and a measure of GI – obtained with the six basic tasks (related to verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning, but not to working memory) – confirmed the hypothesis and showed that the pattern of correlations only slightly changes across ages.